It’s true you know. Video Games will bring around the end of civilization as we know it. We’ll either be addicts, virtual-junkies, slavering over our screens and snarling at the rest of the human race - or we’ll be nicking cars and driving over random pedestrians.

Ever since Death Race came to the attention of the press, back in 1976, games have been blamed for everything - from theft to assault, from swearing to murder. Games have responded to criticism by becoming bloodier, more sexual, and allegedly racist, homophobic, and sexist. So here’s a top ten of the craziest, most controversial games in gaming history.

1. Death Race

The first video game to stir-up major protest. The object of the game was to run down ‘gremlins’, that resembled people. Sadly, the ‘gremlins’ looked like people, and the working title of the game had been Pedestrian. The media went into overdrive, discussing the psychological impact of games and eventually the game was banned - though not before protestors supposedly dragged the consoles out to burn in parking lots.

Later on, we got Carmaggedon (The Carpocalypse). Instead of gremlins, they were zombies. Times, they are (not) a-changin’.

2. Mortal Kombat

The original ‘blood ‘n’ guts’ fighter, Mortal Kombat was addictive - for the gameplay. One of the first 2-player games in which the characters were evenly matched, it was fun and - yes, violent. It spewed blood and carnage, and the sheer audacity of it was hard to ignore.

Result? Concerned parents and the formation of the ESA - and the start of rating games.

3. Manhunt

Rockstar Games plays with controversy the way arsonists play with fire. GTA is the most successful of their franchises, but they made some other games too - including the delectable Manhunt. The object of the game is to execute various gangs and enemies in as violent a fashion as possible. Each level is scored based on how violent you were.

The game was found in the bedroom of murder victim Stefan Pakeerah - which naturally meant the media blamed the death on violent video games.

4. Custer’s Revenge

Way back in the early years, there was something called Atari Porn that was created by third-party developer Mystique. If pixelated sprites were your thing - along with rape and the subjection of native americans - Custer’s Revenge was your game. Naturally enough, groups everywhere spoke out, and there was a protest in New York. Atari was mortified, and other console developers took note - future console technology was ‘lockedout’ and third party development was never so easy again.

Lesson learned? That there really are some people who get turned on by sprites.

5. Mass Effect

It’s a strange fact of life that whereas now even your average family movie has a fair amount of death and violence, sex still remains in the shadows. So it was with Mass Effect - a fairly innocuous game, but one with a steamy secret. Yup, we’re talking about lesbians. One of which is an alien lesbian. There isn’t actually anything at all in the way of bodily fluids and fleshy action. In fact, it’s all rather tasteful. It didn’t stop Singapore from banning the game though.

6. Everquest

Moving away from games as training for sociopaths (and lesbians?) we’ll take a look at the scary world of MMO’s. Specifically, Evercrack. Plenty of people had several years of their life used up in this crazily addictive game that paved the way for World of Warcraft. College degrees were dropped, wives were divorced, jobs were abandoned. There was even a suicide case directly linked to compulsive Everquest playing.

Result? Europe’s first video-game addiction clinic opened its doors in 2006. Treating ‘addicts’ aged between 8 and 20, the clinic supposedly helps these people rebuild social networks.

7. Resident Evil 5

Although no official release date has been announced, that hasn’t stopped people from raging about the trailer. Set in Africa, the hero is naturally killing zombies (it is Resident Evil). Only the hero is, y’know, white. And the zombies are, well, black.

The problem, of course, is that nasty old Progenitor virus which started this whole mess.

Either way, it’s probably an idea to wait for the game itself to be released before we start getting too worked up.

8. Ethnic Cleansing

Yes, there is a game called Ethnic Cleansing, and yes, it does involve shooting blacks, Latinos and Jews. Eventually you murder Ariel Sharon, former PM of Israel, and who is - supposedly - drawing up plans to rule the world.

Understandably, people were a bit miffed.

9. Left Behind: Eternal Forces

Based off a series of Christian books, the game involves you fighting the antichrist by converting people. Those that don’t convert, die. It was accused of many things, including religious intolerance, and misogyny (many occupations are restricted to male units). Left Behind Games responded fairly aggressively to these criticisms and drew up an entire defense. They also started threatening legal action against bloggers who criticized the game.

Overall, the series suffered from fairly lack-luster sales, which hasn’t deterred Left Behind from planning an expansion pack.

10….

There would have been a ten, except I have to go run over my grandmother with a pick-up truck now.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 6:44 pm and is filed under Game Design, Top 10. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.